THE TREE

This past summer Covid hit again. I was back home at my mom’s, in the house where I grew up, surrounded by a beautiful countryside. After all, I couldn’t complain: while it wasn’t too bad, I was feeling so exhausted that I didn’t have the strength and energy to read a book for more than five minutes at a time. On day two, I was lying in the patio swing, a giant spruce tree towering over me. It must be at least 40 years old, but it hasn’t always been standing there. When it first came home my parents planted it in a clay pot to help it grow. And now, I couldn’t believe its size…how did it go from so small to so big? Where had the time in-between gone? For a moment, I pondered how often we catch ourselves in the present moment wondering how we got here… we move along the path of time with our bodies, but the mind oftentimes is some place, some “time” else.

As I was lying there, lulled by the fresh summer breeze, some drops of sap landing on my face, I let go and just fell into “being”. When body and mind become integrated and fully reside in the present moment, all the senses are awake. They gather together for us to experience them : colors are vivid, sounds are sharper, aromas, skin and body sensations show up in myriad ways. A feast of the senses, life truly “embodied”. That afternoon, I was reminded of how often meditation and yoga practices come to my rescue and help me find the ground beneath my feet.

A majestic tree towering over me

roots reaching deep down through layers of time past and gone

wide branches gently swaying in all directions.

It felt like a dance,

the tree and I….

becoming one